Ivory White
by Nessingway
Summary: When two girls find a pair of gloves, they get themselves in a bit more trouble than they anticipated.
1. The Ominous One

Long ago, there were two sisters named Iris and Eloise. They were children who resided in the poorer district of town once known as Essington Village. Although they weren't brought up from the greatest family, they were very well mannered and courteous.

Iris had the nature comparable with a fawn; careless, curious, and generally good. Eloise, even with the appearance of one as delicate as a rose, was the mischievous and clever fox, though retaining the polite countenance and feigned vulnerability that any young woman may hold. Together they balanced one another, so no suspicion was raised despite the disaster they often brought to their township. The sisters were so agreeable that even the strictest magistrate couldn't help but love them.

On a cool midsummer evening, they were trying to discover something amusing to do. Ideas and prepositions flew across the room, but were ignored for the reasons of the strong wind or the thick fog which enveloped the town. Eloise, although younger, had a fantastic imagination and knew how to transform boring, dull things into hours of fun. After pondering for a short time, she asked Iris, "Why don't we scour some things in Grandfather Earl's chest?"

"Oh, marvelous idea! We should check the cellar," Iris replied. Their great-grandfather had many interesting objects in a trunk he left for them when he passed onto the next life. Every time the sisters used something they had gotten from the chest, magical things happened, so it was a wonder they had not thought of this before. A handful of people are unsure of the cause of the magic, but the fact their grandfather was a renowned alchemist and magician drops hints of sorcery. When he was living, he often created objects of either little value, or which brought chaos and disarray throughout the region in the foreign lands where he lived for some time. For these reasons, he fled from his homeland and made a living collecting and enchanting strange artifacts in Essington. A foreigner's pay was meager in those times, so in his death, the initial inheritance's worth was not more than a shilling, but somehow the family couldn't part with the valuable chest, either for reasons of weight or sentimental value.

The chest, although shabby in appearance, had the significance only few can comprehend. In the centuries when faeries, trolls, and goblins ruled, magic roamed freely. A day could not go by without breathing the Brilliance. A day came when a troll named Gomer, a very selfish one at that, decided he wanted the magic to himself. He gathered all of his imps and demons and ordered that they captured the faeries and nymphs and other creatures of Brilliance and put them into a chest. The chest in itself was made up of nettleweave and iron, the weave of which those who belong to Brilliance are vulnerable and iron so that no creature of Earth could open it. Gomer, in all of his treachery, extracted the Brilliance by a small device within the chest, so that once the creatures were within his bondage, the Brilliance would be kept small ball. Gomer's invention caused the death and almost the extinction of the creatures of Brilliance, and only a handful still exist to this day.

The chest itself was relatively harmless to those who weren't faerie-folk. Still, the magic is powerful in both magnitude and goodness, despite the fact that the creator was a terrible troll. Gomer long forgot where he had placed the chest, to his dismay. Years went by without knowledge of the chest until a humble man, Earl Greenwich, stumbled upon it when he was looking for herbs. Considering it nothing more than a useful tool for storage, he brought it to his home and stored books and random items that had little significance within it.

The girls knew nothing of the history of their Grandfather Earl, nor the history of the chest. To them, magic was short of a fairytale, of lies. The chest was only a source of entertainment, and it only took a few minutes to find a pair of ivory white gloves. Eloise and Iris, captivated with the idea of being high-class noble women, walked to the cupboard to have prepare a tea party. Together, they walked with one glove in each hand. It wasn't until they tried opening their china cabinet that they saw the magic of these gloves. What was a simple cupboard with a matching set of porcelain became a magnificent bureau with bone china.

Unbeknownst to the girls, the magic wasn't from the gloves themselves; it belonged to Lenora the sorceress. Lenora had a strong ancestry with the sprites of the Brilliance, but the goodness within the magic was long forgotten. Although she had Brilliance in her vains, it was used for the wrong things.

It was a rainy evening when she was strolling down the England townships looking for some bloodroot and pearl moss to ward off bad spirits and basil for her own good fortune. Lenora was well known for doing selfish things, not to mention her infamous reputation of bringing bad will to others. It was only expected that her magic would eventually go to others that were more deserving. Almost instantly, at the same time two young ladies were fitting ivory gloves to their petite hands, Lenora felt the power disperse from within her. She became weaker and older without her magic. Supposing she had a cold, she used what magic she had to whisk her to the safety of her cottage a league away.


	2. A Pair for Two

Eloise and Iris didn't know anything about Lenora or that people like her even existed, but that entire week they continued to transformed their shabby neighborhood into luxurious living quarters. Never once did they think of improving themselves, for each girl only thought about each other and her neighbors. The crazed street cats became beautiful and fat felines, the skinny rabid dogs became well-groomed poodles, and pesky rodents became small exotic animals. Even the small apartments and shacks became mansions and lovely town houses. All men, women, and children walked with confidence, for their part of town was now envied throughout England.

Although only God knew what was happening, the natives of the region could easily suppose it was all due to the sisters. News passed around that the girls were magical beings, enchantresses, and even witches.

"You have no one to thank, except for these gloves," the sisters would say, embarrassed that their popularity made them somewhat of celebrities.

All was well until Sorceress Lenora received the news of the sisters and their alleged "magical" gloves. It occurred to her that she wasn't overcome with poor health; someone had just stolen her magic.

_I must witness this for myself_, she thought, so she went to the district where this entire mystique had been taking place. She saw the magnificent town houses and then saw two blond girls in fine clothing sitting idly beside a tree.

"Children, do you know of the sisters named Iris and Eloise?" She requested sweetly.

"Oh yes, they live down the lane in the cottage with bricks of peppermint scent and a lake of sparkling cider," the taller one said.

Lenora smiled at them and walked as swiftly as her legs could take her until she reached the road where the smell of peppermint grew stronger with each step. She covered her wrinkled nose with her tattered black shawl, hoping it would dampen the cloying smell. As Lenora was just steps away from the door, two girls dressed in many layers of fine ruffled taffeta were gathering to get a drink of cider.

Lenora noticed the gloves almost instantly. The taller sister had one glove on her right hand while the younger one had hers on her left. Whatever power remained in Lenora was draining. Her complexion was getting greyer and older by each moment. A curious one at heart, she quizzically studied what it could be that was draining away her lifeline, but angry at the fact that they were oblivious that they had _her _magic.

The girls didn't take notice of the unfamiliar lady until they realized she couldn't have been from the neighborhood since she was wearing old torn clothes and her face was so dreary.

Eloise felt tense at first sight of this woman. Iris, however, felt compassionate.

"Miss, would you like anything, perhaps clothes or food? We will gladly give you what you need," Iris asked sincerely. Lenora didn't reply for a while. Ideas flew in her mind about ways to get a hold of the gloves.

_I need these gloves. I will soon perish without them. How? Elixirs..perhaps? Which one? Bullocks, I'll worry of this later. What shall I do? Great star of the heavens, help me! I've got it! If I hold the older one captive, the younger will be lost, _she finally concurred. The sisters, of course, had no idea what Lenora was thinking.

"I don't need anything," she said weakly, yet harshly. _I'll come again, but I must find the older one alone. Then I may have the gloves, _she thought spitefully. She quickly left the two girls.

Eloise and Iris found this woman a peculiarity. "I believe this woman is a bad omen," Eloise said.

"I'm sure she was just lost. She will be no harm to us," Iris replied carelessly. They ignored Lenora's visit and spent the rest of the day planning things to improve and initially decided on changing the dying barley fields into prosperous sugar cane countryside. All the while, evil Lenora was cooking up a scheme.


	3. Leave Enough for Three

It was many days later when Lenora gathered enough energy to undertake her plan. She turned herself into a delicately poor, small child, but the enchantment only could last until sunset so she had to act quickly. After waiting an entire day, Lenora finally spotted Iris by herself, sitting pleasantly next to a fountain, a dove on her fingertips. With only half an hour before enchantment deadline, Lenora walked up to her with a potion of transmogrification.

"Miss, could you spare a coin to buy my persimmon elixir? My mother has a death of a cold," she asked Iris with her voice small and sickly.

Iris pulled out a few coins and put it into Lenora's hand. "Oh dear, that's terrible. Please send my concern to your mother," and she took the small bottle and placed it in her knapsack.

Lenora had to make sure Iris would drink the potion, so she added, "I'm sorry, but the money you gave won't be enough to get the necessary physicians. It would be nice if you would drink it and tell me what you think of the recipe, so I may be able to sell more." She prayed that this excuse would work.

Iris happily obliged. It was only a few moments until the girl turned into a disgusting and dark rodent known as a ferret. Lenora took out her gunnysack and hastily shoved Iris inside it.

Essington Village faced a depression for the days while Iris was missing. Scouts were sent looking for her constantly and only found an empty bottle and a knapsack. Eloise didn't know how to manage without her, to Lenora's pleasure, and was so sick with worry she started getting severe stomach cramps. Even the skies wept for three days straight, but on the fourth day all was clear.


	4. Evermore and Four

A great bustling of noise came at noon. Eloise asked her neighbors what was the matter.

"Poor girl, haven't you heard? Iris has returned! The village shall celebrate!" they all exclaimed, but it wasn't Iris's return. It was only Lenora, transformed into Iris's figure. Iris, however, was still stuck as a ferret in a sack that was behind the sorceress's back. She laid limp in the bag, for Lenora put a drink of sleep into her water before they ventured to Essington.

The evil Lenora never had experience as a sister, for she was born by a mother who abandoned her at a young age, and a harsh enchantress cared her for throughout her childhood. She hadn't always been evil however, until that fateful day when she was twelve.

* * *

_"Lenora, come quickly! We may escape from Maeve if we get out of here," Anne, Maeve's latest victim and Lenora's newest friend, said in a hushed voice, for Maeve was sleeping across the room. _

_"Please don't make me do this. You don't know her like I do. She isn't just a witch, she's evil," the small and cautious Lenora begged. _

_"I know you want this as much as anyone does. Come, before she stirs again."_

_Anne's beckoning voice had an assuring tone, so Lenora followed the girl into the window. Outside never looked so haunting, but before she realized it, she was beside the willow tree. Lenora refused to tell anyone that her greatest fear was the Forest. The beasts, the monsters, and the terrible stories made her blood freeze. Even an eternity with Maeve didn't sound as bad as the Forest, but she wanted Anne to be happy. She was the closest thing to a friend Lenora had ever gotten.  
_

_The house that was fifty yards behind the two girls shimmered with light. Maeve must have awoken. With fear, they ran forward, straight into the Labyrinth of the Unknown. _

_The cave welcomed the girls with a sinister groan, but nevertheless, the young girls hid within the confines of the labyrinth._

_Moments later, another moan and another came from all around. It seemed as if demons were screaming at them, in fact, there were three forlarrens and a blood sprite covering the entrances. Murder gleamed in their eyes and their lust for human blood singed their thirst. The girls backed away from these monstrous demons, praying that perhaps they would be saved. _

_"Come hither, children. We will only feed upon you if you do not satisfy us," the blood sprite said to the girls._

_For a time, the girls stayed silent, until Anne answered with her voice quivering with fear, "What do you want?"  
_

_"We only need one child. That is all we need to satiate this terrible hunger, but only one. If you cannot choose, both of you shall be our meal." _

_"Then-" Anne began to say. _

_"No, let this girl decide. She has yet said anything, and we are curious to see what will come from her lips. Choose wisely, child," the forlarren told her. _

_Lenora wanted to be back home, in her warm scratchy bed at Maeve's. She didn't want this burden of choosing her life or the life of her only friend, but an evil thought came to her. "I don't deserve to die. It was Anne that brought me here!" this other-worldly, outspoken entity thought. Lenora's reasonable side was too startled to stop what came out of her mouth._

_"Let Anne die!" she cried, before she fell to the ground weeping. _

_"No! I thought-" her friend said, before the four monsters pounced on her. When they were finished, the listless body laid in an unnatural position, arms and legs broken and dislocated. Lenora looked away, mortified of what she had done. A wave of guilt drowned her, paralyzed her.  
_

_"You are a wiser child than I would've thought. You have great promises of treachery, for that is easily seen in your blood. Perhaps I will see you again, cousin," the blood sprite said. Lenora collapsed and wept until Maeve found her unconscious on the corpse of Anne in the Blood-kin Cave.

* * *

_

Lenora angrily tore the image of childhood in her mind and remembered the quest for the gloves and that she was in Iris' form. She looked at the pathetic child laying on the bed. Eloise looked like Anne in many ways, like the color of her skin and the icy blue eyes. She wanted to get out of the room where the haunting image Anne stood, but she had to assure Eloise that she was Iris. The appropriate language for concern was unknown to Lenora and so she awkwardly patted Eloise's head and simply said, "I missed you."

Eloise knew something wasn't right with this behavior, for Iris would embrace her tightly and say something happy to get rid of all of Eloise's past worry. At least Iris had done this in the past, but instead, Eloise felt tense. _"Is something wrong with Iris? I hope nothing happened while she was gone. She could have at least vaguely explained what had happened to her. I suppose... Well, at least she's home now," _she thought.

Although Lenora was nervous about the little sister's reaction, she had to get to business. To obtain the gloves was the initiative. Waving goodbye, she left the crowded room to search the cottage alone. In a short while, she entered the house and promptly began tossing the belongings to each side, but the search for the ivory gloves ultimately failed. She left the ruined home with angered disappointment.

Eloise was recovering and Lenora had to hide her frustrated fury as she walked to the house where the sister was in bed. She asked with false concern about the health of Eloise with those who were caring for her. Finally when she encountered the girl, she asked her where she placed the gloves.

"Sister, can't you remember? We placed it in the belly of the whale," Eloise replied, confused why Iris would ask such a ridiculous question. Clearly it was in the toy's stomach, for they spent hours debating for the best hiding place in case an accident happened.

"How can gloves be in a belly of a whale? We are several leagues away from any sea. You are lying!" she said in an outrage. She stormed out of the room.

Eloise was astonished by her sister's new attitude. Never before did Iris speak to her _like that _before, but it was then she realized that it could not be her sister because Iris had to know where they placed the gloves.

But Lenora was frantic. She needed the gloves' magical power before she had none at all. She turned back into her true form and opened the door to face Eloise. "A foolish girl cannot last long in this world. Tell me now, or all of Hell's demons shall tear you apart, limb by limb," Lenora explained coldly.

Eloise was struck with fear. Iris wasn't found, but it didn't mean that she wasn't in danger. She firmly decided that she would never tell the hag the gloves' place for Iris could possibly be harmed if she would do so. If she told the witch where the gloves were, why, neither of them would be able to be safe. _I'd rather eat a cup of worms, _she thought to herself. Lenora waited for Eloise to tell her where the gloves were, but she didn't hear a word from the child's lips.

"Are you going to tell me where they are?" She asked irritably.

"Never."

"Then you shall face the consequences until you do!"

The sorceress took her to a lake many miles south and performed the set of trials, in the hopes that the stubborn girl would lose her spirit. She watched Eloise eat a handful of scorpions, swim with piranhas at her feet, and outrun a herd of gazelles, but her face offered no hint of despair or depleting confidence. Lenora didn't know what to do next, for the girl still remained silent. The witch's mind was submerged in irritation when she developed the perfect plan to make Eloise tell her where the secret gloves were.

"I am allowing you one more chance. Unless you provide me the knowledge of the where the gloves currently lay, your beloved sister will perish from this world," Lenora fiendishly clarified.

"How can you harm my sister? She may be in danger, but she is safe from the likes of you."

"Child, your idea of where your beloved is, well, quite tarnished in that sense. She is nearer and in greater danger than you could believe. Now you see, if you fail to tell me where these instruments of magic are, your sister shall perish and what will you have? You shall have nothing more than a broken soul, alone in this world without a family relation and enveloped in guilt, for it was by your hand that your sister shall die," Lenora told her, knowing the consequences were too terrible for words to describe.

Although Eloise was dressed in the greatest finery at the time, she was stripped from her dignity and all that held value in her life as she explained where the gloves were. The gloves were ultimately not as important as her sister's fate and Lenora grinned in anticipation until Eloise finished her last word.

"Such a gullible dunce you are! Now that my magic will be returned, both of you shall serve me for all eternity!"

Eloise felt betrayed and dim-witted. _Why didn't I see this coming? _She pondered. Lenora shoved her into a birdcage with Iris still in ferret form, but Eloise had no idea the furry rodent was her sister. Instantly, Lenora disappeared and Iris was desperately trying to communicate with her sister. She eventually gave up since she could not speak a human word while she was an animal. Eloise usually got along with small animals well, so she held Iris in her lap while she waited for Lenora's return.


	5. An Ave for the Fifth

The sorceress came back in due time. She had the gloves fastened on her hands and wickedly smiled to Iris and Eloise both.

"Now, shall I become magnificently beautiful with the help of these gloves? Perhaps I should instead become a dragon, eating the souls of the children and princesses who have deceived me. What I know I want is eternal youth while having a pair of servants to assist me constantly! Why, my life is settled!" she exclaimed contently. She clapped her hands childishly and patted both hands to the cheeks of her face expecting to change for the better. However, she wouldn't get any of her desires, any of her wishes, and wouldn't be able to ponder whether she would be a beauty or a beast. The moment she touched her face, Lenora and the gloves perished. No cloud of smoke and dust embellished the disappearing act, but all creatures that were under the bondage of the witch were set free.

The bats, imps, squirrels, and creatures of Brilliance captured in her nettleweave cages flew out, whispering thanks and praises to the young girls. Gifts were given from the faeries, kisses from the elves, and almonds from the squirrels. Not a living thing ran out of Lenora's shack without complete contentment glowing from their faces and a gift to the sisters.

The girls were absolutely dumbfounded from all that had happened. Iris became human again and the cage was unlocked. Once they pulled themselves together, they walked back home to Essington. Although they were still puzzled with the sudden disappearance of Lenora, they tried to explain what happened to her. The townspeople, though only vaguely knew of the former sorceress Lenora, threw another homecoming for both sisters. Iris and Eloise were recognized as heroines and founders of Greater Essington, and to this day a statue stands in their honor. Though everone was happy with the magnificance the girls brought, the town did miss the lovely pair of ivory gloves that the sisters discovered. Fortunately, the village stayed as it was as if it were built the day before.

Despite all good news of the sisters' return, many were curious about the fate of Lenora the Sorceress. Even Eloise and Iris couldn't quite describe the phenomenon, but it was commonly thought that only the selfless could withstand the magnitude of Brilliance the gloves contained. Those like Lenora simply disappeared.


End file.
